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THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, THURSDAY, MAY 19, 1898.
Torch of Reason
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
eternal blunders lies the gloriou.-
T o Y ou*
m odern sciences or the true motive
tr u th —the true philosopher’s stone,
...
. , t
~
... for right living,
whose magical touch will give us
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th e very central thought of
the highest and best of everything each read‘‘r of the boRCH, as if this C h ristian ity , the doctrine of Christ
P ublished W eekly by th e Liberal U n i we are capable of enjoying, and were a personal interview. People’s dying to save wicked hum an beings,
versity C om pany, in the In tere sts of
continually m ake us more capable m inds are filled with thoughts of is heathenish, for the idea of the in-
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
of enjoying th at which is for our the war. W ar is about the only nocent suffering for the guilty ¡g
good.
Some call this true Chris- topic of thought and conversation. ' not a civilized idea, hut one which
tian ity . We call it Secularism , he- We have a h e a d y felt the effect of could have originated only in the
E n tered at the p**«tottice at Silverton, cause it per tains to things of this this, and we do not hesitate to be m inds of b arbarian s.
O re g o n , as s e e o n d -c la sf m a il m a tte r
world, and the word C hristianity perfectly frank in the m atter. We
W ho are the heathen, the cos-
m eans so m any different things to are anxious to steadily improve in m opolitan philosophers, scientists,
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
0Q so m any different people. It stands our work, and in order to do this j F reethinkers and Secularists, who
One year, in a d v an c e ....................
50 for all kinds of creeds and beliefs, we m ust increase our
num ber of are all working to bring about a
Six m onths in a d v a n c e ....................
25
T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................
from slavish Catholicism to the subscribers and raise enough mon- proper respect and love for hunian-
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
Do you ity and a happier condition on the
in a d v an c e ..........................................
75 wild, ignorant ravings of canrip- ey to finish our building.
Money should be sent by registered m e e tin g converts.
But no m atter think it fair to ask a few to do it earth , or the C atholics, Methodists,
le tte r or m oney order.
w hat we call it, it is coming. Old all?
B aptists, P resbyterians, etc., who
things have passed aw ay and he-
Dear friend, you do not know o f , are blindly staggering along the
Notice!
the sacrifices which have been m ade old ‘‘trodden p a t h s ” of credulous
A pencil m ark here denotes th a t your hold all things have become new’.
T here are seeming defeats in to establish our school. If we could worship of gods and angels, of holy
subscription will ex p ire w ith th e n ex t
number. You a re e a r n e s tly re q u e s te d e v e r y b a t t l e for the rig h t— but only tell yon how much of toil and hard- days and holy books, as have the
to renew so th a t you m ay receive th e pa
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per w ithout in te rru p tio n . We have de- seeming .
I he burning of Bruno, ship, and even suffering, has been heathen in all ages (
cided th a t it is best lor all concerned j persecutions of Paine and the paid as the price of the T orch of
th a t we do no t send papers longer th a n
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th e tim e paid for unless so ordered, ridicule of Darwin are none the less B eason and the Liberal U niversity
T his will prevent any loss and we will Htep8 to victnry th an the wonderful, as they stand today, we believe you
L IT T L E PO INTS.
know ju st where we sta n d .
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We request you to send us the nam es applauded oratory of Ingersoll or would roll up your sleeves and do
of Secularists who might become sub-
great discoveries of Thom as som ething to help along the work
a m b e rs an d we wdl m an sam ple copies.
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®
The love of tru th is the begin
— Edison.
at once. There are some of us who
“ But few men when near by have have worked hard for m any, m any ning of wisdom : but fools despise
TH U R S D A Y, M A Y 19, E. M. 298
the vision to interpret things right- m onths, w ithout receiving a cent of wisdom and instruction. (iSee Pro
ly. Given a perspective of a cen- wages for our labor.
Can von not verbs i. 7.)
It Is C o m in g .
tu ry or two, then all see correctly, help a little? If you cannot fur-
As soon as a m an begins to shout
Secularism is a w inning fight. It
“ No skipper ever sailed to a dis- nish money, you can certainly help in religion, he m ay he pretty sure
contains everything th at is good, ta n t port in a straig h t line. Often extend the circulation of the T orch he is “ hallooing before he is out of
It accepts no im provable theories at the end of a tack he is farther and thus help us find friends who the woods” .
,
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.
from his port than at the begin- can and will help. The day will
or dogmas, and in its great work
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,
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,
W hen men are wronged w hohave
ning; hut he always has his port in come when you will he proud th a t
done nothing to deserve it, the evil
for h um anity, its great work for
m ind, and every tack is an advance, you helped us. Please do not wait
doer seeks to justify his wickedness
the good of this world, it is sure to whatever m ay he the seeming, or for others.
Y our help is needed
to himself by tryin g all he can to
com m end itself to all th in k in g pen even the tracing in his log.”
now.
W rite us a personal letter
calum niate the injured p a rty ; and
p ie , as soon as the shouts of the sal-
Friends,
hear
us:
Work
from
a
and
let
us
know’
th
a
t
you
will
at
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.
the more difficulty he finds in do
vationists have been silenced long sense of duty, not from exultation least try to help along the most
ing th at to his m ind, the more pro
enough, by our advancing civiliza- and enthusiasm alone.
These sensible plan th a t F reethinkers
found is his h atre d .— [Cooper.
moods come and go. The old or have ever undertaken. Our work
tion, so th a t good people, honest
General Booth says, “ The world
thodox theories are wrong. 1 hey is sure to he a success. You should
people, in the church and out of the jiaye j (,ne ancj are ,)OVV doing im- be one to make it so.
is growing more and more to think
church, will have a chance to inves- m easurable evil. Science, moral-
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th a t it can do w ithout God” . Evi
d en tly the world is on the right
tigate its rational plan of saving ity, progress— let these he your hat-
Who Are the Heathen?
track after a ll,th a t is, if Booth tells
suffering h um anity from its men- tie cry.
tai, moral and physical degrada-
“ E nlist for the war, for life, and
C hristian people are quite fond th e tru th ;a n d he is a p retty shrewd
tion.
be hopeful, whatever the seeming, of referring to us “ infidels” as the observer. Anyhow’, we’ll take his
It is sim ply wonderful how this Live in duty, not in enthusiasm s. heathen, hut we contend th a t we word for this once, [fre e th in k e r.
idea of the religion of hum anity is E dgar Poe once put it thus:
‘One are in advance of the old heathen
The article on page 5 entitled
grow ing, and w hat a falling oil* m ay go out to the m outain, hut one doctrines of the gods, and th a t the “ The W ar and B raver”, condem ns
from the old superstitions is taking should always come home to the C hristians and o th er superstitious the idea of God’s answ ering prayers
place. In places where young peo- valley.’ As an abiding place the worshippers of today are the only of a secular n atu re, but the writer
pie have a chance to hear a n y th in g region of the hum drum sense of heathen
in civilized countries, forgets th a t this foolishness of some
else, the old orthodox arm y is re- du ty is far better th a n the m oun- Most C hristians worship on Sun- C hristians is no more absurd than
ceiving b u t very few new recruits, tain-top of exultation. Be faithful day, and Sunday is the old heathen the idea th a t there is a god to an
In fact, “ good news of great joy” is and energetic when th e work to be day on which the sun was wor- swer any kind of prayer.
The
spreading over the whole earth.
done is only commonplace and shipped. They w orship m any gods, whole foundation of C h ristian ity is
We are none of us born into th is there is no ‘hip, h u rrah in the air. ag the heathen of old worshipped, a m ass of suppositions.'
world to even run ach an ce of being
u ^e definite in your work. Don’t A.t least they w orship three — god
An ingenious peace-at-any-price
burned, or of suffering, in an awful be like the man who said he aim ed the father, god the son and god the
correspondent of th e New York
hereafter, while others are enjoying a ^ nothing ami always hit it. Says holy ghost. Then again, they wor-
Evening Post sends it these clever
eternal bliss. No, no, we are all M artial, ‘He who is everyw here is ship and adore thiugs th a t are
verses on the situ atio n .
Even
brothers and sisters.
Let us m ake now here’. ’
m ade with m en’s hands.
Their
those who cannot sym pathize with
each other happy here as best we
We have som ething definite now holy bible is nothing but a book,
their object can ap p reciate th eir
can. Let us throw all our m ight to work for, and if we all do our or
books,
w ritten,
com piled,
grim hum or:
against the great wall of evil th a t p a rt well, what a wonderful growth printed
and
bound by men,
surrounds us.
Let us break down of true Secular tho u g h ts and deeds yet it is held to be as sacred and L ord help us in the hn’y task
Of blow ing o u t th e S p a n ia rd s’ b rain s,
these barriers which are preventing there will he. If there is no better holy as any heathen god of wood Give us th e s tre n g th , we hum bly ask,
To draw th e life-blood from th e ir veins.
our onw ard m arch into “ a happy way for you to work for the cause, or stone.
la n d ” not “ far, fa ra w a y ”, but right place the T orch in at least five new
Nearly all the doctrines, forms T h e ir su n n y islands m ay we tak e,
T h eir seacoast cities shell and b u rn ;
here on this beautiful, green earth , families in your neighborhood this and ceremonies of the C hristian Sad o rp h an s of th e ir ch ild ren m ake,
T h eir wives to lonely widows tu rn .
Let us be wise. F reethinkers have m onth. You will thus pleach Sec- churches are those of an ancient,
m ade m istakes—had m istakes; and ularism to five families for one year. ignorant and heathen people who G uide, th e n , o u r b u llets as th ey fly,
T h a t th ey m ay m angle, m aim an d kill.
C hristians have m ade bad m istakes Let us all do som ething definite, believed in witches, spirits and mir
Ami
high,
A
im g give
i v e us
u s s succor
u c c o r from
ir o iii on
on u
ig n ,
also; but somewhere between these Try!
, acles, and k n e w nothing about the 1 To work th y rig h teo u s, bloody will.
J. E. Hosmer.........................Editor
P. W . G eer,...................... M anager